Better healthcare for Berwick residents
L - R: Professor Leon Piterman, Laura Smyth MP, young patient Liam Hayden and the Honourable Nicola Roxon MP
A new state-of-the-art facility located at Monash University’s Berwick campus, will transform the way Berwick residents access healthcare services.
Berwick Healthcare, a collaborative project between Monash University and the Dandenong Casey General Practice Association, will provide the local community with access to general practice, nursing, specialist clinics and allied health services such as psychology and physiotherapy, pathology and community education.
The project’s centrepiece will be a $2.5 million clinic, which has been jointly funded by Monash University and the Commonwealth Government’s GP Super Clinics Program. The clinic was officially opened today by the Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, the Honourable Nicola Roxon MP.
Ms Roxon thanked Monash University for their support of the project and their ongoing commitment to the local community. She was joined by Federal Member for La Trobe, Laura Smyth MP who also congratulated the University for their involvement, highlighting the opportunities for team-based training the clinic will offer as a major teaching practice in the area.
Professor Leon Piterman, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Berwick and Peninsula) said engagement with the local community is a key Monash University priority.
“The University established the Berwick campus with a very specific vision - we wanted to create a campus that engaged with and responded to regional community needs. Berwick Healthcare is just another way in which we are fulfilling that objective,” Professor Piterman said.
The clinic will be a major teaching practice for GP registrars, and will enable nursing, medicine, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and social work students from Monash and other institutions and healthcare facilities to work together to improve their understanding of preventative health, as well as a range of chronic diseases and how they can be clinically treated.
“Monash welcomes the opportunities for teaching and research that the clinic will bring to the local area and the University,” Professor Piterman said.
“The integration of teaching and research opportunities at the clinic provides an environment for research into the specific health care needs of the community and will contribute to community development, social welfare, aged care and chronic disease.”